The Feeling of Unbrushed Teeth

- This morning I am at low ebb. I did not sleep well last night, waking, tossing, and dreaming sordid, incoherent little dreams. I awoke, my head heavy, feeling as if I had just emerged from a swim in a pool of warm polluted water. My skin was greasy, my hair stiff, oily, and my hands as if I had touched something slimy and unclean. The thick August air does not help. I sit here lumpishly, an ache at the back of my neck. I feel that even if I washed myself all day in cold clear water, I could not rinse the sticky, untidy film away; nor could I rid my mouth of the furry unpleasant taste of unbrushed teeth. -                     

(from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath) 

This morning was one of those mornings. One of the ones where you haven't slept well the night before and you wake up feeling absolutely disgusting, certain that the day will be horrible and you will feel like a creature that has crawled out of a mucky bog all day long no matter whether you shower or put on your nicest clothes. Fortunately the day turned around significantly and I ended up feeling pretty good.

I am a huge fan of Sylvia Plath (as discussed here, here and here). I kid you not. One of my most treasured books is a copy of Sylvia Plath: The Complete Poems, which I hunted high and low for and finally found in Victoria. I can recite several of her poems from memory and often quote them (for example, the title of yesterday's post is a line from a Plath poem). I wrote a paper on her poem "Daddy" and last year and ended up using it as my writing sample to submit to grad schools. The Bell Jar probably makes it onto my top-ten list of books and I may own a The Bell Jar tshirt from Out of Print clothing. I really loved the movie Sylvia. I am not exactly sure what this says about me as a person, but I try not to worry about it. Anyway, for a while now I have been wanting a copy of The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath and the other week I had to renew my irewards membership so while I was doing that I decided to treat myself to a copy. It just arrived in the mail yesterday and it is all I can do to keep myself from reading it and only it. He writing is so raw, so powerful, so emotional. She was so in touch with the intensity of life. Her every sentence pulses with power and emotion. It's amazing.